The Master Commander
by JScribz
Summary: In an alternative universe; Bruce leads the Resistance against The Empire which is run by The Supreme Being (Clark). Caught in between is The Empress (Diana) who is allied with The Empire for the sake of her people, but finds herself falling for the leader of her enemy. Note: Sorry I'm terrible with summaries... This takes place in an AU without their superhero personas! BM/WW!
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! It's been awhile since I last wrote anything PERIOD! But after watching the new 300 movie, a spark of inspiration had me writing this new story~ the characters may be out of character, but please keep in mind that this is takes place in an alternative universe! Enjoy! And let me know what you guys think !

"Bruce!" a voice called out to him from the distance. He slowly turned his head towards the direction of which he thought he heard it from, but there was no one or nothing to be seen-it was pitch black. His lips slightly parted as he looked to the other side in confusion. Again, he was confronted with emptiness but this time it was pure white. His eyebrows furrowed as his eyes races back and forth looking for any signs that might indicate where he might be or why he was here. His body automatically tensed at the notion of a new sound that flowed into his ears-water. At first it sounded like small trickles of water, but then it grew louder and more frequent. His eyes quickly lowered to look at the floor below him. There was a small stream that ran right between his feet, dividing the two sides of the room. His gaze followed the direction of which the water was running. He made out a small figure standing a few meters away from him directly over the stream of water. The figure's shadow was cast between the two of them, half of it black and the other half white – each opposite of the side that it was cast upon.

"They killed them." The boy whispered, his voice laced with ice. Bruce remained silent as his face quickly turned to stone. It was him. The boy was him.

"They killed them both," he whispered once more. Younger Bruce began to slightly sway back and forth as he hung his head so his chin was touching his collarbone. Bruce had an urge to reach out to the child so he could comfort him; for he understood the pain, the horror and the loss. But instead he just lowered his head just as the boy had. It was just a dream, it'll pass.

"And they'll kill them all," a small thud was heard as the boy dropped to his knees. Bruce looked up in dismay as he found his younger self dipping his hands in the water below as tear drops began falling from his pointed chin. Bruce's breath hitched as he saw the tear drops change the stream into a river of red. The red substance began to overflow and spread past his feet, changing the once black and white world to a crimson red. He tried to retreat but found his feet bound to the floor by the hands of the boy who was now looking directly up at him. Instead of finding the icy blue eyes he is usually confronted with when he looks in the mirror he finds orbs of rouge, filled with hate and anguish. The boys crimson gaze quickly disappeared in the murky water that was now rising faster than before. Bruce slowly looked up and lightly closed his eyes as he felt the water crawl up his neck.

"I know" he whispered to himself right before he was completely engulfed by the crimson fluid.

"Rough night?" Dick asked as he poured a cup of coffee. Bruce, who was leaning over the table with his head in his hands looked up and gave the younger man a short grin before accepting the coffee.

"Guess you could say that," Bruce sighed as he closed his eyes and took a long sip. Dick made his way around and sat beside him on the bench. Bruce always found it odd that he had preferred sitting next to people rather than in front of them, especially when it was one on one. But Dick had justified this odd behavior by saying he likes to watch people interact, or as Tim would like to say; go on 'Barbara-Watch'.

Bruce looked around the dining hall and noticed how populated it was today, but then again he rarely ate there. The round tables were filled with chatter and laughter as people discussed their days and plans. A tinge of jealousy filled him as he saw friends, couples and families make conversation. He glanced past the tables and saw his dear friend Alfred working in the kitchen. The elderly man wiped his forehead with his rolled up sleeves as he prepared to pick up a large basin from the ground.

'I'll have to ask for more volunteers' Bruce told himself as he silently apologized to his friend. His attention was brought back to Dick when his ex-apprentice slid a folded piece of paper under his cup of coffee. Before asking him what it was, Bruce unfolded it and quickly read over the report.

"We can't stay here long," Dick murmured as he shook his head, "we can't stay anywhere long,"

"How certain are we about this?" Bruce slid the paper back over to the younger man.

"Enough. The source itself is credible," Bruce took another sip of his coffee.

"Then we'll begin preparations tonight," Bruce got up to leave, "try not to spook the refugees,"

"You got it," Dick leaned back as he lazily saluted his mentor as he left, "Master Commander,"

Bruce just nodded his head in amusement as he walked out of the dining hall back towards his quarters. As he walked down the tunnel he was greeted by many refugees; all of whom thanked him and wished for the best. Though it felt great to receive acknowledgement for doing his job, he wanted to tell them to hold their thanks. It was not over yet. The war with the Supreme was still going on, and there were still many more struggles and hurdles to overcome. His jaw automatically clenched at the thought of "The Supreme". He was the start of everything; the war, the pain & suffering, the injustice and the loss. The Supreme was a being that was not of this planet; he was infinitely stronger, faster and smarter than most of the beings that occupied this planet. Utilizing his abilities and both the fear and hope he brought about in humans, he rose to power. Eventually, he held half of the world in the palm of his hands and the other half tried to fight against his rise for power, thus the beginning of world war three. The war was now coming to an end after 20 years, with more than 9/10 of the world under his rule. The other 10% was considered the resistance, and they lived in constant fear as they ran from the elite group called "Purgers" who were assigned to chase down and capture them. Bruce was the leader of the primary group of resistors, the Alpha resistance group which was generally located on the north eastern coast of what used to be North America. The headquarters of the resistance was located closest to the capital of the supreme, which was both a blessing and a curse. They would get news and information the fastest, but they were also living in constant fear of being discovered.

"Why the long face?" A sultry voice pulled him from his thoughts. Bruce immediately knew who it was and didn't stop to chat as he walked right past her to the entrance to his room. He tried to concentrate on typing in his pin code when he felt a delicate hand slide up his forearm. He sighed and paused a second before looking into her dark green eyes.

"Bruce," she whispered seductively as she slyly stepped in-between him and the door, "why are you avoiding me?"

"Selina," he turned his head to the side as soon as she tried to caress his chiseled jaw bone, "we can't do this,"

"Why? Everybody knows our beloved commander needs his own sort of pleasure," she lowered her eyelids as she brought her hand from his arm to the back of his neck, "I'm just here to help,"

"Now is hardly the time," he gently but firmly grabbed her hand at the nape of his neck and brought it down to her side.

"When will it ever be?" She now sounded irritated. Without waiting for a reply from Bruce, she slid away from him and walked quickly down the hall.

Bruce just rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger and typed in his pin-code with his other hand. He walked into his quarters and stripped himself of his shirt. He laid down on his make-shift bed and closed his eyes. It was quite the eventful morning; first the dream, then the news of being almost discovered and last but not least the little tango with Selina. He would never deny that there was an attraction between the two of them, but it was more physical than anything else. She was exquisite, a rare beauty. But there was more to her than just that; Selina was brilliant, cunning and a great fighter. What kept him from succumbing to his desires were his job, and the uncertainty he felt with her. Many relied upon his decisions, and he couldn't let personal things get in the way of his judgment.

He chased away those thoughts as he began to make room for ideas of how he was going to go about with the next supply run. It was getting harder and harder to find supplies, as the empire began to sweep the area in order to build new structures for the ever-growing society. Hopefully when they relocate they would find themselves in an area with an abundant supply of food, tools, medication and other things. His thoughts were once again interrupted as his com-link went off, signifying an incoming call. He lifted his hand and waved it once over his ear.

"Bruce here," He responded with his baritone voice, "what is it Cass?"

"Bruce…" Her voice was shaking. Bruce sat up, it wasn't like Cassandra to sound so shaken up.

"What is it?" he demanded urgently, "What happened?

"Bruce…they killed Talia," she barely got out before sobs could be heard over the com-link. Bruce ground his teeth. Talia was in charge of the Delta resistance group located by Infinity Island. He tightly shut his eyes as images of his past lover came to paint the back of his eyelids. She was the strongest woman he had ever known. Her loyalty to her people and cause had enraptured him, but their romance was short-lived as they had parted ways. He had jeopardized her father in a mission that they both partook in, and she was forced to return to Infinity Island to take over her father's position as leader of the resistance group. Was it his fault that she was murdered? Had he lost another beloved person in his life because of his insolence? What was he even doing? He shook his head as if to force the negative thoughts away. First thing was first, he needed to get Cassandra out of there before she ended up dead as well.

"Cassandra, did you make it out okay?" he didn't know what he would do if he lost her as well, Cassandra was like a younger sister to him.

"Yes, Tim brought reinforcements and we're currently on our way to checkpoint 1587," her voice now steady.

"Okay, I want a debrief sent over ASAP. Also, don't spread word of this-not yet,"

"There's a problem with that…" her voice now sounding serious, "Jason knows,"

Bruce jolted up to his feet with this new information. His hands balled up into tight fists as he took a deep breath. This was the worst possible way this could have played out. Jason was in love with Talia, but Talia had still loved him. It caused their once mentor-mentee relationship to fall to pieces as Jason was spiteful against him. But on top of that Jason was a rash, uncontrollable and emotionally-driven young man. He picked up his shirt from the bed and put it on as he quickly fled his quarters. He sprinted down the tunnel as he frantically looked for Jason.

"Bruce you th-" he turned off the com-link as he tried to keep a clear head. He came to an abrupt stop at Jason's room and typed in the override pin-code. The door opened and he found the room completely ransacked; there were clothes all over the place and feathers from what used to be pillows scattered everywhere. He walked over to the closet and slid the door open to find the gun-case empty. Bruce cursed under his breath as he slammed the door shut and quickly made his way over to the communication center of the base. Everyone got up from their seats and saluted him as he entered the room, but he didn't even acknowledge the greetings as he slammed his fist on the table and opened up the computer's voice control and barked,

"Where the hell is Jason Todd?"

So? What'd you guys think?!

I apologize for all the grammatical errors, like I said before… it's been awhile since I last wrote anything so I actually did have some difficulty keeping the grammar in check. I'll be sure to edit this ASAP~

Thanks for reading! ^-^


	2. Chapter 2

Hi! WHEW! I was going to take another week or so before I updated this story, but I was so happy to see the reviews so I just couldn't help myself! :)! Thanks everyone for all the reviews, it really means a lot to me!

Some Things that might help you guys put this story into perspective:

Bruce is 28 years old; Dick is 25; Jason is 23 - None of the Bat-clan is Bruce's adopted children.

There are no Superhero Personas in here. It's strictly Bruce, Diana, Clark. No WW, BM & SM!

I can't think of anything else for now, but if you guys have any questions regarding the story, definitely let me know!

ENJOY! :D

* * *

"You sure about this?" Worry filled Dick's voice as he handed Bruce his tuxedo jacket, "I mean, we all want Jason to return safely but you might be throwing yourself under a bus by doing this,"

Bruce didn't reply, instead he just shook his arms to straighten out the shirt before putting the black jacket on. He tugged gently on the bow tie to make sure that it would stay neatly in place. Dick sighed as he roughly ran both his hands through his jet black shoulder length hair.

"Listen Bruce, I don't want to come off as insensitive but losing Jason is one thing and losing you – well let's just say we can't label that as a possibility," he let out another sigh as he leaned his back against the wall in frustration, "We can't afford to lose you, we just can't,"

A few moments passed in silence as Dick began to regret what he had said, but knew that he had to have said it. Dick knew best that Bruce was someone who was willing to throw his life on the line for absolutely anyone. Every bone in that man's body was selfless, and it didn't help that he was one of the most stubborn people he had every come across. This meant that Bruce was willing to throw his own life away at any moment, and nobody could do anything to make him change his mind-nobody. It always managed to sadden him knowing that Bruce was condemning himself to this sorrowful path that he had chosen. Even with the knowledge of what it was exactly that drove this man to being the dark, secretive and self-inflicting hero that he was today did not justify his actions. No one should be pushed to tread the path that this man follows, but he continually chooses to do so.

A large strong hand being placed on his shoulder had brought Dick back to the matter at hand. He looked up and greeted the surprisingly reassuring gesture with a wide-eyed look. Bruce's usual artic blue eyes were replaced with ones of sympathy and warmth, it was the first time he had seen that look on his face since Bruce had found him 15 years ago.

"I need to do this," Bruce simply said with an even voice as he squeezed his friends shoulder firmly before turning around to grab his watch and wallet,

'And you need me to understand,' Dick silently told himself, finishing his words for him. He shrugged his shoulders before announcing his surrender,

"I'll be in the com-room," he turned and walked out of the Master Commander's quarters. Bruce didn't bother turning to look as Dick left the room, it would make it harder to follow his resolve. Dick was like a brother to him, but so was Jason. As much as he wanted to reassure Dick that he would remain safe and sound, he wanted to be assured that Jason was as well. He wrapped the watch around his wrist and clipped it on in one swift motion. He checked the time and silently cursed to himself, he was running late.

* * *

-1 Hour Later-

* * *

The ballroom was filled to capacity with the mass of people that had attended this year's North Eastern Charity Ball. The large fancy décor that hung from the ceilings and walls only mentioned a small portion of the wealth that belonged to those who attended this event. The NE Charity Ball was the most prestigious and well-known of the celebratory events the Empire had hosted. All of the richest throughout the Empire gathered here for this one day, for it was also the ultimate 'purge' event. The closest relative to a 'Purger' would be a bounty hunter, and the closest relative to a 'Purgee' would be a slave. The Purgers main job is to go seek and capture members of the resistance. The Purgers are rewarded according to the age, gender and position of the member that is caught. Then, the Purgees are kept in prison until the next Purge event. At these events, the elite members of the Empire pay insane amounts of money to purchase their own Purgees to keep, sell, or in most cases-to kill. In the Empire, there is no law but that of The Supreme and in order to keep the people content and happy with the way things are run, he sees fit that the people can have micro-laws of their own. To join the Empire, is to gain supremacy over those who do not conform to them. This instills fear and empowerment amongst the elite members so that they would choose on their own not to forsake the Empire.

Bruce walked over to the long drink bar and ordered a scotch. He doesn't drink, but for obvious reasons he would walk around pretending that he was drinking. He turned around to face the main area of the ballroom and rested his elbow on the bar. Scanning the room for a familiar face, he pretended to be unaware of the lustful stares he received from a good number of the female population.

'Now if only Jason would look at me like that, it'd be so much easier to find him,' he jokingly told himself as a smirk found its way across his lips. They had received intel from Tim that Jason was going to be here at the ball. Bruce only knew what his intentions might be if he had planned on coming to this ball-to assassinate the Supreme. It was pointless; the Supreme was beyond human biology-there was simply no known way as to how they could go about killing him. Jason was planning on killing himself in an attempt to exert his revenge for his fallen love, and Bruce was here to stop it. He continued to nonchalantly look around for the young man, trying not to draw attention to him – but failed to do so. He felt a figure approach him from the side, far too close for it to be without intention. He held a sigh as he got ready to leave his post, but was pulled to a stop by a gentle hand grabbing him by the bend of his arm. He lazily looked over to his side and gave his attention to the black-haired beauty that had stopped him from his get-a-way.

"Hey pretty boy, where ya running off to?" her words were slurred, and her eyes full of undeniable lust. The event had just started and she was already a drunken mess. Bruce mentally shook his head in disbelief, perhaps this is what the people on the surface did during their free-time – get wasted.

"The lavatory," he answered with a monotone voice hoping that she would get the hint that her presence was unwelcome.

"Lookin' for someone to go with you?" She tilted her head, causing her deep blue eyes to glisten under the crystal chandeliers.

"Not particularly," He pretended to stretch his shoulders in an attempt to get her hand off of his arm so that he can escape with more ease – again, no such luck. This time he just jerked his arm out of her grasp and involuntarily let out a short sigh. He began to walk away when there was a sudden jerk on his arm and he felt a moment of panic as his drink flew out of his hand,

"Oops," The woman let out as she let go of Bruce's arm in shock of what she had just done. A good majority of the room went silent, but not before a gasp was heard from every mouth that had witnessed what had just happened. Bruce clenched his jaw and groaned to himself as he began to regret coming out in search for Jason. The idea was to keep his presence on the down-low, but this drunk had just ruined that for him. His irritation dissipated immediately when he finally noticed the real reason as to why everyone in the room had made just a big fuss about him spilling the drink. It wasn't that he spilt the drink, but rather _who_ he had spilt it on.

Standing before Bruce was none other than the Empress. The 'right hand' of the Supreme, his ally and what most consider – his lover. She looked as elegant as can be in a pearly white one-shoulder dress that ran diagonally across her abundant breasts and down past her knees in a draping manner that showed off her smooth silk legs and ended in a short trail behind her. Her raven hair was filled with loose waves as it all gathered over one shoulder and stopped above her waist. Bruce stopped his journey short at the discovery of the splotches on her dress where he had spilt his drink on her. He was beginning to wish he had actually drank so that there wouldn't be as abundant a supply of alcohol as there was on her dress. He looked up to find deadly azure eyes piercing his very soul. He should be frightened, but instead he finds himself allured. There was nothing but clarity that enveloped her eyes, an innocence-perhaps a naivety of some sort.

"A sorry would do plenty," her voice was filled with irritation. The bartender was the first to move as he grabbed a bunch of napkins and ran around the bar to help the Empress with the mess.

"Thank you," her voice this time was much sweeter and softer as she gratefully accepted the napkins from the bartender. Bruce found himself wishing he was on the receiving end of that voice instead. He cleared his throat as he gathered his once lost composure.

"Please," Her voice filled with royalty as she addressed the others, "pay no attention, enjoy yourselves,"

The attendees returned to their previous states, as if none of what had happened actually happened. The Empress was turning towards the direction of the bathroom when Bruce called out to her,

"Excuse me," she turned around immediately, her eyes made no effort in hiding the surprise she felt when she heard his deep baritone voice for the first time. Bruce took a step towards her, leaving the previous woman with her newfound interest in the bartender.

"Would you like to dance?" He chuckled to himself as he saw her raise an eyebrow at his inappropriate request in regards to the situation.

"Would you like to apologize?" She retorted as she shook her head in disbelief, she had never met anyone like him.

"An apology would mean that I'm sorry for something that I had done," he took another step towards her and offered his hand to her as he grinned before continuing, "But if I had not done that, I wouldn't have been able to ask you for a dance,"

Diana kept telling herself not to trust this man, that he was someone who did not abide to all the rules, that he was dangerous. But something in Diana pushed her beyond reasoning, pushed her enough that she now stood inches away from this man with her hand in his. She froze the moment she realized what she had done, she wanted to retreat and take her hand back out of his. But she lost her chance the moment she gazed into his deep blue eyes. She lost all cognitive thought as she felt her being flee into the depths of the oceans his eyes had casted, little did she know that she had him under her spell as well.

"It's best to air dry your dress anyways," His voice snapped her back to reality and she once again felt the irritation that she had housed easier.

"Just one song," She said sternly as she looked away from his eyes, refusing to be hypnotized again.

He led her to where all the other couples were dancing, and gently pulled her closer to him as they began their slow dance. She was taller than most women, but he was also taller than most men. The couple stood out amongst the others, they were not awkward like some. If anything they had the most chemistry, as if they had been dancing with one another for years on end. He found it easy to concentrate on her and her features because of how natural it felt to dance with her, it took no thought or planning as to what the next move would be. A minute passed before she finally said something,

"What's your name? If I may ask that is," she felt the involuntary shake of her voice from how nervous she was really feeling.

"Thomas," He simply replied, he smiled on the inside at how nervous he had made her,

"Thomas…?" She left open ended trying to get him to give her his last name,

"Yours?" He brushed away her question with much ease,

"Diana," She hesitated a bit before responding because she was not used to people asking for her actual name. They usually just referred to her as 'The Empress'.

"Diana…?"

"Of Themyscira," She asked herself why she was giving him this information, it was pointless small talk.

"Thomas of Gotham," a crooked grin was painted across his face as he found it quite enjoyable to be playful with her. His grin was met with a gasp from her as she took in the sight of possibly the most handsome man she had ever met. She couldn't even find time to be annoyed with his answer as she was busy trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. This man did strange things to her, and she didn't know whether she should be okay with it or not.

Bruce enjoyed the feeling of her in his arms, even though they weren't holding each other as an intimate couple would be. She was different. She wasn't like The Supreme at all, but he had known this. She was his ally not by choice, but rather by force. The island of Themyscira was unchartered by the rest of mankind, it was an island that was hidden. But once the Supreme had begun taking over, he had found the island. After losing a great number of her people and her mother in an attempt to stop them from taking over, Diana was forced to decide whether; her people died or joined the Empire. He understood her position; he too had been faced with life-changing decisions to which many lives were at stake. He didn't blame her for what she had done, and he liked that she seemed different from the others-she still had her independence. Her independence, which at the moment was strictly guarded by multiple security guards around the room. He began to feel like a mouse in the field that was trying to escape the murderous eyes of numerous hawks.

"Guess babysitting is a rather high-paying job," he jokingly chuckled, secretly hoping that the security guards had heard his remark.

"I can handle myself just fine," she pouted, obviously not too happy with the security guards herself. Bruce lit up inside at the sight of her pouting, it was absolutely adorable. He mentally noted that he would have to make her do it again sometime.

"Seems like you're the only one who thinks so," He kept teasing, pleased that he could make the well-put-together Empress so flustered. He noted to himself that the song was coming to an end, and as much as he would like to dance with her for the rest of the night-he still had a person to find.

"Don't push your luck," she stammered, her frustration with the man for continually teasing her on the rise. She felt him lightly release his hold on her waist and hand as he leaned his head in towards her. She flinched as she felt his dark hair brush against her forehead. What was he doing? He's too close!

"I'm sure you could handle me just fine, princess," He whispered into her ear as their cheeks touched causing her to squirm and turn a bright shade of red. Before she could even say anything, he retreated and flashed her another crooked grin before turning around and walking into the crowd.

"What an infuriatingly insufferable man," she hissed under her breath as she hid her face, hoping that no one would notice how bad she was blushing.

* * *

Bruce spun in slow circles as he made his way through the crowd; he had no luck in locating Jason. The auctioning had already begun and it was becoming harder for him to make his way through the mass of people. He was hoping that people would start filing out soon and he would weed his way through the remaining people. His thoughts kept veering off towards Diana, and it took almost every single drop of willpower for him to keep himself from looking for her. If only Jason turned up faster, he wouldn't be struggling with himself this much. His eyes kept busy as he quickly looked past the faces of the people in the crowd. He was about to head over to the bar for a break when he heard a familiar name over the microphone,

"This right here is Jason! Rip at the age of 23, he WAS one of the lead officers of the _resistance_," the announcer hissed the last part, "but ladies and gentlemen, he is here now and here for _the purge_,"

Bruce took no time to process this new information; his body reacted by clenching his fists and jaw. Jason was here alright.

* * *

So! What'd you guys think of this second chapter? I tried to make it more fast-paced than my other stories, hopefully I've done a decent job of doing so.

Have any questions/remarks/comments? Hit me up with a review :)!

Thanks for reading!


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